Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
Mark Steyn |
The Orange County Register
| Sep. 16, 2007
...We should beware anyone who seeks to explain 9/11 by using the
words "each other": They posit a grubby equivalence between the
perpetrator and the victim – that the "failure to understand" derives
from the culpability of both parties. The 9/11 killers were treated
very well in the United States: They were ushered into the country
on the high-speed visa express program the State Department felt was
appropriate for young Saudi males...
...when you raise a generation in the great wobbling blancmange of Deval
Patrick-style cultural relativism – nothing is any better or any
worse than anything else; if people are "mean and nasty" to us,
it's only because we didn't sing enough Barney the Dinosaur songs
at them – in such a world a certain percentage of its youth will
have a great gaping hole where their sense of identity should be.
And into that hole you can pour something fierce and primal and implacable...
The Fate of Camelot
Ernest W. Lefever |
The Washington Times
| Aug. 28, 2007
...JFK was shot by a frustrated communist, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.
Everyone agrees that Dallas was a profound shock to the American people,
and to millions abroad who underestimated the strength of American
democracy or the resilience of its people...
...After Kennedy's death, "liberals recast their understanding of reform
from an instrument of progress to an instrument for punishment." Jimmy
Carter's "Punitive Liberalism" was at odds with "the forward-looking
optimism" of JFK. Finally, in 1980 the conservatives led by Ronald
Reagan seized "the mantle of optimism and progress that had been abandoned
by the liberals..."
Using Avoidance Manoeuvres
Lorrie Goldstein |
Toronto Sun
| Jul. 26, 2007
...Incensed by calls from Toronto Mayor David Miller and Ontario
Attorney General Michael Bryant for a "handgun ban" in the wake
of an outbreak of gun and gang violence last weekend, including
the murder of an 11-year-old boy, Ron asked, "Are they dense?
Are they stubborn? Do they have some kind of vested interest in
not solving violent crime?" My answer is "no" to all three. I
believe politicians propose simplistic solutions like "gun bans"
because it's easier than telling people the truth -- that fighting
gun crime is hard.
Calling for "banning handguns," particularly when you're asking
a Conservative government in Ottawa to do it while you're a left-wing
Toronto mayor or a Liberal provincial attorney general, is just an
easy, partisan way to avoid responsibility and duck the issue. This
is also true for politicians on the right, who talk only about passing
tougher laws against gun crime...
Alarmist global warming claims melt under scientific scrutiny
James M. Taylor |
Chicago Sun-Times
| Jun. 30, 2007
...Many of the assertions Gore makes in his movie, ''An Inconvenient
Truth,'' have been refuted by science, both before and after he made
them. Gore can show sincerity in his plea for scientific honesty by
publicly acknowledging where science has rebutted his claims...
For example, Gore claims that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and
global warming is to blame. Yet the September 2006 issue of the
American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate reported,
"Glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains, confounding
global warming alarmists who recently claimed the glaciers were
shrinking and that global warming was to blame."
'Have sex, do drugs,' speaker tells students
Bob Unruh |
WorldNet Daily
| May 21, 2007
"Why I am going to take that position is because you are going to do
it anyway," he continued. "I think as a psychologist and health educator,
it is more important to educate you in a direction that you might actually
stick to. So, I am going to stay mostly on with the sex side because that
is the area I know more about. I want to encourage you to all have healthy,
sexual behavior."
...WND also has reported on similar assemblies that have been used by
schools to promote homosexuality, including one where parents were
banned from the event, and a second where WND reported school officials
ordered their 14-year-old freshman class into a "gay" indoctrination
seminar after having them sign a confidentiality agreement promising
not to tell their parents...
New evidence against Van Anraat
Goran Baba Ali and Sebastiaan Gottlieb |
Radio Netherlands
| Apr. 4, 2007
...In December last year, Frans van Anraat was sentenced to 15 years
in jail. The court in The Hague found him guilty of supplying materials
for chemical weapons to the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1980s. He was
acquitted of complicity in genocide because he reportedly did not know
that Saddam Hussein intended to use poison gas on the Iraqi population...
On 7 May 1990, Frans van Anraat wrote a letter to former dictator Saddam
Hussein in which he requested Iraqi nationality. "Dear Mr President," he
wrote, I first came to your country in 1977 and lived in Baghdad for
three years. I have come to love your people and your country, which
I now consider my second country. I am proud of what I did for this country."
According to a letter from the Iraqi secret service to the head of the
military industry dated 8 January 1992 (click here for translation),
what Frans van Anraat did for Iraq was: "supply banned and difficult
to obtain chemical substances, at great risk to himself. And at reasonable
prices compared to earlier quotes from other companies."
Missing Link?
Staff Editorial |
Investor's Business Daily
| Mar. 15, 2007
...War critics argue that Saddam Hussein had little to do with terrorism,
and nothing to do with al-Qaida. Since there was no Iraq-al-Qaida link,
they say, the U.S. should never have invaded to get rid of Hussein,
no matter how evil he was. But something interesting has come out of
the interrogations of the lead al-Qaida suspects at Guantanamo.
In particular, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confirmed what was suspected
all along: He was the driving force and chief planner behind 15
years of al-Qaida terrorism — nearly 30 attacks and plots in all.
That includes 9/11, the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl and,
much earlier, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
If so, it further cements the evidence that Iraq was, at minimum,
a willing partner of al-Qaida's in the decadelong burst of terrorism
that culminated in 9/11...
Abusing Intelligence
Michael Tanji |
The the Weekly Standard
| Feb. 16, 2007
...Intelligence is a national security decision-making tool,
not a ball to be taken out and kicked about when cheap political
points need to be scored. Yet now that the Department of Defense
Inspector General's Office has released its report on the
intelligence-related activities of the Pentagon's Office of
Special Plans, that is exactly what is going on.
Leaks of secret intelligence documents are curious affairs.
The general public rarely gets to see the full text of
intelligence assessments because, as prolific as they can be,
leakers gain no benefit from revealing the full picture.
Doing so would reveal, as the recent key judgments of the
national intelligence estimate on Iraq showed, that there
is often a ray of light amongst all the doom and gloom....
Is Hollywood too timid for the war on terror?
Andrew Klavan |
The Los Angeles Times
| Jan. 26, 2007
...The outcome of our battle against the demographic, political
and military upsurge of a hateful theology and its oppressive
political vision will determine the fate of freedom in this century.
Television — more populist, hungrier for content and less dependent
on foreign audiences — reflects this fact with shows such as "24"
and "The Unit." But at the movies, all we're getting is home-front
angst and the occasional "Syriana," in which "moderate" Islam is
thwarted by evil American interests. But the notion that this war
is about our moral failings is comfort fantasy, pure and simple. It
soothes us with the false idea that, if we but mend ourselves, the
scary people will leave us alone...
Airport Security and Racial Profiling
Walter E. Williams |
Capitalism Magazine
| Dec. 20, 2006
...It is clear, whether we like it or not, or want to say it or not,
that there is a strong correlation between terrorist acts and being
a Muslim, and being black and high rates of crime. That means if one
is trying to deter terrorism and in some cases capture a criminal,
he would expend greater investigatory resources on Muslims and blacks.
A law-abiding Muslim who's given extra airport screening or a black
who's stopped by the police is perfectly justified in being angry,
but with whom should he be angry? I think a Muslim should be angry
with those who've made terrorism and Muslim synonymous and blacks
angry with those who've made blacks and crime synonymous. The latter
is my response to the insulting sounds of car doors locking sometimes
when I'm crossing a street in downtown Washington, D.C., or when
taxi drivers pass me by...
Iran Offers to Share Experience and Achievements With Hamas
Julie Stahl |
CNSNews.com
| Oct 13, 2006
...Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal meets regularly with
Ahmadinejad and has pledged his support to the Iranian leader in
the event that Iran is attacked by the West.
...Ahmadinejad offered to transfer Iranian
"experience and achievements" to Hamas. The Iranian Revolutionary
Guard, Iran's elite commando unit, was responsible for training
Hizballah in Lebanon...
[Palestinian Interior Minister Said] Sayam is quoted as saying that the victory of one Islamic state
is the victory of all Muslims and they should take pride in the
victory of Hizballah, Hamas and the "remarkable success of Iran
in various domains."
Ted Turner: Give Muslim Extremists What They Want to Stop Terrorism
Brad Wilmouth |
News Busters
| Sept 30, 2006
..."you don't win people over by bombing them, you win them over by being
friends with them," and soon recommended giving Muslim extremists what
they want as a solution to terrorism. Turner, who in 2002 claimed that
Israelis were guilty of "terrorism" against the Palestinians, on Friday's
show advocated "being more even-handed in our dealing with the Palestinians
and the Israelis," negotiating peace in the Middle East "so we can stop at
some point furnishing military aid to Israel," and "pulling our military forces
out of the Middle East." Turner labelled these moves as "things that they've
asked of us" and "things that the Muslim extremists and a lot of other Muslims,
too, would like to see us do..."
Media Blame Bush for Clinton Legacy
Roger Aronoff |
Accuracy In Media
| Aug 15, 2006
...Clinton bombed Iraq for several days in December of 1998 with no Congressional
or United Nations approval...
...waged war against Serbia in violation of the War Powers Act,
without the approval of Congress or the U.N., using NATO as an offensive rather than
defensive force. That violated the NATO treaty. Today, because of the Clinton policy,
a Muslim state is being constructed in the Serbian province of Kosovo...
...was snookered by the North Korean communists, after providing them with
massive amounts of aid, while they cheated on their promise to abandon their
nuclear weapons program...
...wasted eight years with the so-called Oslo process,
during which Israel and the Palestinians were supposed to make peace, and he
entertained Yasser Arafat repeatedly at the White House. In the end, Israel was
under attack again and the region was ablaze in a second intifada. That is the
situation that the Bush Administration inherited.
Looking for trouble, the thugs find it
Wesley Pruden |
The Washington Times
| July 14, 2006
...Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, offered a warning
to Iran in blunt, forceful language yesterday at a session with reporters
at the National Press Club: "They are playing with fire, and will bear the
consequences" [if kidnapped soldiers end up in Iran or Syria].This is not
the usual diplo-speak, but a warning in language that thugs and primitives
better understand...
...Most of the rest of the world is, as usual, either trying to make Israel
the villain, or trying to sleep. The United Nations Security Council, ever
on the scout for ways to equivocate in the face of moral challenge, would
have adopted a resolution condemning Israel yesterday but for a veto by the
United States. Four other nations, displaying the irresolution that is the
courage of cowards, abstained. Israel's neighbors, who have the most to
lose if the radicalized "religion of peace" prevails in the Middle East,
displayed their usual manliness...
The Real Iraq
Amir Taheri |
Commentary
| Jun. 6, 2006
...there are those in the media and the think tanks who wish the
Iraq enterprise to end in tragedy, as a just comeuppance for
George W. Bush. Others, prompted by noble sentiment, so abhor
the idea of war that they would banish it from human discourse
before admitting that, in some circumstances, military power
can be used in support of a good cause...
...a vast network of independent media has emerged in Iraq,
including over 100 privately-owned newspapers and magazines
and more than two dozen radio and television stations. To
anyone familiar with the state of the media in the Arab world,
it is a truism that Iraq today is the place where freedom of
expression is most effectively exercised...
US Concerned About China's Military Buildup
Al Pessin |
VOA News
| May 23, 2006
...Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman says China appears
to be preparing to project its military power beyond its immediate
surroundings. "There are indications that they are thinking more
broadly and at the very beginnings, perhaps, of developing power
projection for other contingencies other than Taiwan," he said.
The report says such contingencies could involve conflicts over
territory or resources. Last year's report on China came to a
similar conclusion. But this year, the report adds that U.S.
analysts have been 'surprised' by 'the pace and scope' of the
modernization of China's strategic forces. And Rodman says Chinese
officials are also discussing possible revisions in their defense
doctrines, including their pledge not to be the first to use nuclear
weapons in any conflict.
Darfur a Quagmire to Avoid
Peter Wortihington |
Toronto Sun
| May 9, 2006
...Although related to the Mahdi of the siege of Gen. Charles
"Chinese" Gordon in 1884, Prime Minister Mahdi seemed moderate
and unhappy about the imposition of sharia law (amputations,
public floggings and stoning deaths for crimes) that provoked
the rebellion in the south. No international objections were forthcoming.
...It's foolhardy to send troops there. Waste money, if you like, by
supplying equipment for African peacekeepers but don't involve our troops.
Sudan is a quagmire best left for African interlopers to solve.
Either that or declare war on the Khartoum government and back the rebels of the south.
Protests Provide Boost to Democrats
Charles Hurt |
The Washington Times
| Apr 11, 2006
... "They say you should report to deport," Mr. Kennedy said of conservatives
and a growing number of union-backed liberals who oppose granting
citizenship to illegals. "I say report to become American citizens."
These rallies also have turned into Democratic recruitment centers
for reaching new voters...
...Yesterday, Mr. Tancredo said the protests reveal how powerful illegal
aliens have become in the U.S."Today's rallies show how entrenched
the illegal alien lobby has become over the last several years,"
he said. "The iron triangle of illegal employers, foreign governments
and groups like La Raza puts tremendous pressure on our elected
officials to violate the desires of law-abiding Americans and to grant amnesty..."
Lessons from Viet Nam: Don't Cut and Run!
Michael W. Cotter |
American Diplomacy
| Mar 20, 2006
...Although Vietnam and Iraq are different wars, in different times and
being fought for different reasons, there are parallels between them.
Whatever one's views of how and why we fought and are fighting them,
the manner of our departure from Vietnam and the scars it left both on
Americans who served there and the Vietnamese should provide a stern
warning as we try to disengage in Iraq. Whether the war in Iraq is
"winnable," whatever that word means, the Vietnam experience should
tell us that a precipitate withdrawal is almost certain to have very
serious consequences....
Don't mention Africa
Evelyn Gordon |
The Jerusalem Post
| Mar 8, 2006
...UNHCR instituted the cut because feeding 72,000 refugees 2,207
calories a day for one year costs $8.5 million - but as of January 1,
the agency had yet to receive a penny in donations for 2006. Not
knowing when more money might be forthcoming, it was trying to make
leftover supplies from 2005 last as long as possible. In mid-February,
the United States, Britain and Germany finally pledged a collective
$2.3m., but it is not known when that money will arrive - or where the
other $6.2m. will be found.
YET WEALTHY countries are clearly not short of disposable cash: Just
three days after the Times report appeared, the European Union managed
to scrounge up 120 million euros (about $143m.) in emergency aid for a
more deserving cause: the Palestinian Authority...
